Pikeman’s Armour

Images

Figure of King James II in the Horse Armoury, The Penny Magazine, 1840.

Pikeman’s Armour. English, about 1625 (II.112)

Pikeman’s Armour. English, about 1625 (II.113)

Pikeman's armour. English, London, about 1630 (II.115)

Statistics

Object Provenance:
English, 1625–30Object Number:
II.114

Pikeman’s Armour

Description

The armour comprises a broad-brimmed pot, a gorget, breastplate with solid plate tassets and backplate. The pot is decorated with embossed chevrons and is unmarked. The breastplate has the long vestigial peascod associated with the earliest London pikeman’s armours, and has a pair of rivets at either side edge where it was originally fitted with a hinged hasp for fastening the backplate, another early feature.

The tassets are made in one piece embossed to simulate seven lames, decorated with rosettes of rivets. They have been badly damaged during their working life, and each has numerous internal riveted repairs. Both have the detachable hinged hasps for attachment to the flange of the breastplate, associated with the early group of London pikeman’s armours. The backplate is English, by Helm and Slater, and is stamped with the crowned IR mark of the arsenal under James II.

The armour was displayed on a wooden cross between two of the mounted figures in the 19th century Line of Kings.